27.8.2001
Fifth ALMS GTS victory for Chevrolet Corvette - Reliable finish for Cadillac Northstar

Ron Fellows, Johnny O'Connell and the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R scored their fifth ALMS GTS win out of six races at the Mid-Ohio ports Car Course on Sunday. Making the Corvette success story complete the team's second car – driven by Andy Pilgrim andKelly Collins – finished just eight seconds behind the lead car.

Both Cadillac Northstar LMPs ran a reliable and faultless race to seventh and eighth overall, the second race in a week they did so.

At the start of the race the #4 Corvette of Andy Pilgrim got the better of Ron Fellows's #3 Corvette. By the time the #3 car was sorted, Pilgrim and Collins had taken a commanding lead in the GTS class. But O'Connell started catching up and helped by two full-course yellows he moved up the order to within 0.3 seconds of Collins. For over twenty laps the two Corvettes were never more than a second apart and on lap 97 O'Connell made the move that would see him take yet another win after two hours and
45 minutes of frantic race action.

For Cadillac there wouldn't be a repeat podium finish, but both cars ran steady races which saw them finish seventh and eighth overall.

Both teams will be back in action for the penultimate round of the 2001 American Le Mans Series in Laguna Seca on September 9.

American Le Mans Series at Mid-Ohio – ALMS Round 6 – Race Results:

1. Magnussen/Brabham Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S 116 laps in 2h45m42s490
2. Capello/Kristensen Audi R8 + 0m11s38
3. Weaver/Leitzinger R&S-Lincoln Mk.IIIC + 0m37s169
4. Biela/Pirro Audi R8 + 0m58s741
5. Herbert/Wallace Audi R8 + 1 lap
6. Lagorce/Graf Panoz LMP-1 Roadster S + 1 lap
7. Taylor/Angelelli Cadillac Northstar LMP + 2 laps
8. Collard/Tinseau Cadillac Northstar LMP + 3 laps
9. De Radigues/Lambert Reynard-Judd 01Q (1st LMP675) + 7 laps
10. Fellows/O'Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (1st GTS) + 7 laps
11. Pilgrim/Collins Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (2nd GTS) + 7 laps